Pregnant Rabbit problems

[100_HOLLOW_001]

This app is a bit complicated so I'm not sure if this is where I should post this, but I have a bit of a problem. We were just about to get our male rabbit neutered, when my Mum accidently left the door of the female rabbits (Cloudy and Nebby) open and when I got back from school they were all laying together. He was an ex-breeding buck, so I'm pretty sure he would have mated at least one. What I'm worried about is Cloudy's daughter Nebby, as she Isn't fully grown yet and might not be able to handle giving birth. If they are both pregnant then I've heard it is ok to keep them together, as they will both be maternal, but if just one of them is pregnant and the other isn't, can they still live together? What if Nebby gets jealous of the babies and tries to hurt them? If I seperate them, Nebby might become depressed, as she's never been seperated from her mother for long periods of time and they've formed a really close bond. Really need some advice.

 

[Preitler]

Hi,

if your rabbit is old enough to get pregnant it is old enough to handle it. I had a few accidential litters over the years from very young does, none had any problems with it. Might not be optimal, but, except for an emergency spay, there is nothing that can be done about it.

I keep my 4 breeding does in mother-daughter pairs, that works fine for me. There are a few things to consider though. Each of my pairs has 2 hutches, connected with a tunnel. (they also get a lot of garden time). So they can get out of each others eyes when they feel like it, and have privacy, there are times when intact does can be quite bossy and it generally helps with keeping the peace. Also a dividable setting helps when kindling, giving some rest afterwards or for additional feeding of the nursing doe (the other would get fat)

It's actually easier if only one doe is pregnant, I don't seperate for long then, just one or two nights after kindling (they get garden time together), to give her rest and until the feeding got routine. The other doe keeps away from a kindling doe, they seem a little confused about what's going on. Never had a doe messing with the others kits, they become pretty great step moms, I'm pretty sure one even started lactating.

When both does give birth I seperate them when nest building starts (mine do that just a few hours before) or after the first litter is born (there can be several days in between), or at least block off the hutch with the first nest except for feeding times (wildlife camera helps a lot) to prevent the second doe to gather material from the nest or putting her litter in the same nest - which does happen and can work in colony settings, but I'm not too eager to try that. when she's due/starts nest building I confine the doe to the hutch where I want her to nest.
Once the kits become mobile they can wander from one nest to the other, have to keep an eye on that so all get fed (the does don't care which kits they feed, they just want te get rid of the milk), this year I removed a nest since most ended up in the other, and both does just fed that nest.
There's more to check and keeping an eye on, but no big problems.